My first Harley. Well let me back up a little bit and start by saying I had just sold my last Yamaha to buy a car from a friend who was going to the brig. I needed to get back up on two wheels. I knew I didn't want another japaneese bike, but I was jonesin' to ride.There was a guy on my ship I used to see coming to the ship ridin' a ol' rat panhead. It looked like hell. No fender, primer red and wires hangin everywhere. We eventually got to be good friends. We would always talk about bikes. We were talkin one day and I was tellin him about my money situation and that I wanted to get back ridin' again. I had a little money left over from where I had sold the Yamaha and bought the car. Just not enough to buy a bike. He looked at me square in the eyes and said, “why don't ya just build one?”
O.K. that's a novel idea, but how and where's the money gonna come from? What the fuck?He told me “hang on junior, there's a way” He had a sportster engine in his garage. 73 XLCH right side shift with some transmission problems and no first gear. Well, first things were first. We tore the trans apart with what tools we had or could find. Nothing to depress the clutch springs or anything. We would stand on the clutch with a board under our feet to depress the clutch springs and one of us would take the nuts off. The motor was of course on it's side. We were takin the primary chain off and broke the cases because we were jamin' a board in it to bind it so we could get it off. I know you gear heads are cringin' right now. Yea we were a couple of boneheads. I didn't feel comfortable to weld it even though I was a HT [a welder].
We took the motor into a guy there in Alameda near the docks. He cleaned up the wound and laid a tig root and came over it with a mig gun. Looked really nice. A little tweaking with a file and it was fine. Me and My friend Kevin had got into the transmission and discovered the problem was a worn shift fork.
Well, ol' Kevin wasn't lying. Where theres a will there's a way. He had discovered this place called California Performance Iron. The guy who runs the place is a stand up guy and has used parts gallore! He has this loft above his shop with shelves and shelves of used parts. Me and kevin would show up five gallon bucket in hand and go shoppin'. Over a period of weeks we found all that we needed. A used frame that was quite radical, a girder front end. I even found a 18 inch front rim and tire and an old goodyear whitewall for the back. I had to replace them both later, but hey, it was a start!
The bendix carb we found worked O.K. except for it would flood all over the place sometimes. We learned the fine art of “tweaking” a float. The pipes were something someone had brazed together and they were loud! I found a set of pull back bars for the girder that fit real nice. I learned how to do a basic wiring job for the ignition and lights.
I discovered a lot of shops had “spare parts” for sale. I was in Areln Ness’s shop in San Leando buying used stuff one day and got to meet the man himself. I was so nervous and “star struck” all I could say was “I really like your shop” when I shook his hand. He probably thought I was a dork or something.
We finally got the bike up and runnin'. Never did get it titled till I got out of the Navy and moved to Florida. Those were the good times. Kevin didn't drink anything but sodas. So out of respect, I wouldn’t drink while we were working on the bike. We would however consume about a six pack of sodas a piece while working on the bike. Clean up time was always scrub the garage floor when we were thru. And his wife was an excellent cook! We always had a great meal waiting on us when we got thru. I saw “Easyriders” for the first time over there.
I still stay in touch with ol' Kevin. He's living in northern California while I'm here in Georgia. Too many miles apart and I really miss the ol' cuss.
They say yer first Harley is like yer first woman. Ya never forget her.
I sold that bike to a guy here in my hometown. I haven't seen it for 6-years. I ran across the guy I sold it to recently. He told me it's been totally rebuilt. Frame and gas tank is the same. Rear fender is different; it's painted green. No more midnight black with gold leaf and purple pinstripe on it's tank.
He says he doesn't take it out much cause it's such a head turner. He can't go anywhere without getting into a conversation with somebody about it. Seems I remember that same problem too, but I didn't mind. It still makes me proud to know it's still around and turnin heads. I wish I had a picture, but life has got topsey turvy a couple of times and the pic's got lost in the shuffle. I still got the memories though. Glad ya took the time to let me share some of them with ya!
Brian From Georgia
